Adam Rippon of the United States performs in the men’s single skating free skating in the Gangneung Ice Arena at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 12, 2018. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP)

GANGNEUNG, South Korea—On the way to the Olympic medal plaza Monday night to pick up their team competition bronze medals, Adam Rippon couldn’t help reminding Mirai Nagasu where they had been four years earlier.

“We were eating In-N-Out on the roof of her house and crying that we weren’t at the Olympics and now we’re sharing an Olympic podium together,” Rippon said. “If you’re ever depressed, go to In-N-Out and four years later you can be at the Olympics.
Rippon and Nagasu haven’t let their moment in the Olympic spotlight go to waste, both delivering the skates of their lifetimes in the clutch on the final day of the team competition.

“To finally step on Olympic ice felt absolutely incredible,” said Rippon, who once again takes center ice at the Gangneung Ice Arena with Friday’s men’s short program.

“Definitely worth the 28-year wait,” Rippon continued. “I felt like I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to skate well, only for myself , but a medal was on the line for my teammates. To go out there, deliver and put out an Olympic freeskate, it felt amazing.”

Both Rippon and Nagasu’s performances resonated with the American public in large part because of their backstories.

“How Adam Rippon Became the Star of the 2018 Winter Olympics” blared the headline of the lead story on Vanity Fair’s website the day after the team competition.

Nagasu was left off the 2014 Olympic team in a still controversial decision despite finishing third at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Rippon, as the first openly gay U.S. Winter Olympian, knew all too well he is skating for than just himself and his teammates in South Korea.

In Rippon, the LGBT community has found a intelligent, funny, self-deprecating and brash, and most of all honest spokesman with the game to back it all up. Rippon criticized the White House decision to make Vice President Mike Pence, a longtime LGBT rights opponent, head of the U.S. delegation at the Olympics. Pence was no where to be found Monday.

“I’ve always sort of been unabashedly myself,” Rippon said. “I’ve always spoken my mind and from the heart. You know what? I think America’s just catching up. The other day I was joking with one of my friends and he was like, you’re kind of everywhere now. I think I said ‘I know, I’m like America’s sweetheart.’ And he just laughed in my face. I think that what you think of as sort of the American people embracing , on paper I don’t think I embody much of any of that, sort of perceived persona.

“Maybe that’s what people are latching on to, that my story is different, that I’m different. I think on some level we all feel some sort of different and when we embrace who we are, and speak our minds, it’s awesome.”

Scott M. Reid is a sports enterprise/investigative reporter for the Orange County Register. He also covers Olympic and international sports as well as the Los Angeles’ bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games. His work for the Register has led to investigations by the International Olympic Committee, the U.S. Department of Education, the California Legislature, and the national governing bodies for gymnastics and swimming. Reid's 2011 reporting on wide spread sexual abuse within USA Gymnastics and the governing body's failure to effectively address it led to Don Peters, coach of the 1984 record-setting Olympic team, being banned from the sport for life. His reporting also prompted USA Gymnastics to adopt new guidelines and policies dealing with sexual abuse. Reid's 2012 and 2013 reporting on sexual abuse within USA Swimming led to the banishment of two top level coaches. Reid has won 11 Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting since 1999. He has also been honored by APSE for game writing, and enterprise, news, and beat reporting. He was an Investigative Reporters and Editors award finalist in 2002 and 2003. Prior to joining the Register in 1996, Reid worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Dallas Times Herald. He has a B.A. in the History of the Americas from the University of Washington.

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